During the past two weeks, we have seen man's need for salvation and God's preparation of this salvation. We have seen the problems God encountered when He prepared this salvation for us and how He completely solved all the problems of sin. We have also seen the way to receive salvation. Because men understood the Bible in an incorrect way, they came up with many conditions for salvation. Some want to have one condition, whereas others want to have another condition. We saw that man is not saved by the law or by works. He is not saved by repentance, prayer, or confession. Man is not saved by anything he has in himself. Other than these human ways, there are still two very common mistakes within the church. The first is the concept that in order to be saved, man has to love God: If a man does not love God, he will not be saved.
I admit that 1 Corinthians 16 tells us that a man has to love God. If he does not love God, he is accursed. This is a fact. But the Bible shows us clearly that man is saved by faith and not by love. Some think that there are evidences in the Bible that prove that man is saved by loving God, and that without loving God a man cannot be saved. There are some sinners, when the gospel of salvation by faith is preached to them, who would say that they cannot be saved because they do not love God at all. They think that if they really love God and are drawn to God, God will save them. To them man is saved by loving God. They do not realize that man is saved not because of loving God, but because God loves him. It is God who loved the world and gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes into Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). On God's side, it is love. On our side, it is faith. Man's side does not have to be the same as God's side. He does not have to love God as God loves him. It does not say that man needs to love God so that he would give his son to God, so that God would trust in him and cause him not to perish, but to have eternal life. We do not have such a Gospel of John. Thank God that He loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son. The Bible does not say that we first love God, but that God first loves us. The basis of salvation is not that we love God. The basis of salvation is God's loving us. If we put the basis of salvation on our love for God and our sacrifice to Him, we will immediately see that the salvation we would have would not be secure. Our hearts are like the sand of the sea that comes and goes with the tide. If our house is built on the sand, our fate will follow the flow of the tide. Thank the Lord. It is not a matter of our loving God, but of God loving us.